France’s economy ended 2021 on a high, beating expectations with growth of 0.7 percent in the last three months of the year and helping the country achieve its fastest expansion in 52 years.

The national statistics office said average growth in 2021 was 7 percent, the highest rate since the peak of “les 30 glorieuses” in 1969, when the economy recovered from its 8 percent contraction in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit erupted for the first time, rebounded strongly.

The eurozone’s second-largest economy returned to pre-pandemic gross domestic product levels in the third quarter, outperforming most major European countries.

France was boosted by a strong rebound in consumer spending following the easing of coronavirus restrictions last year. It benefited from its reduced vulnerability to supply chain bottlenecks that affected manufacturing in neighboring Germany.

In the fourth quarter, the economy was driven by a 0.4 percent increase in household spending and a 0.5 percent increase in investment, while inventory changes also added 0.4 percentage points to growth. Retail made a negative contribution of 0.2 percent.

This pushed headline output growth above the 0.5 percent most economists were expecting, while slowing from 3 percent growth in the previous quarter.

However, economists expect the French economy to slow further earlier this year after daily coronavirus cases in the country peaked at 500,000 this week.

The number of Covid-19 patients in French hospitals has risen above 30,000 for the first time since November 2020.

The government, which plans to ease coronavirus restrictions next month, previously forecast the economy would grow 4 percent in 2022.